KNOTS LANDING Episode 028 of 344: MAN OF THE HOUR

The Plot (Courtesy of TV.Com):Jeff picks up the kids and Abby is afraid he has kidnapped them
when she can't locate them. Jeff finally returns them and says they were
camping. Ginger's sister Cindy visits, and gives Eric marijuana to hold for
her. Sid finds it and is very upset. At a party, Cindy freaks out and runs into
the ocean. Eric saves her, but she's in a coma. The doctor says the pot had
angel dust in it. Eric is upset as everyone blames him, thinking it's his pot.
Cindy finally wakes up, and tells everyone that it wasn't Eric's pot.more

I’ll just go right ahead and say
that we’ve come to another bottom dweller of KL episodes, another one to join the dreaded Bottom Ten with such
classics as Land of the Free, Kristin, and our previous episode, Moments of Truth.This is another one of those “Here’s a
one-episode stupid story that takes up about 48 minutes, everything gets
resolved in the end, and everyone lives happily ever after” episodes.The good news is that pretty soon we’re gonna
get out of this mode of episode.Once
season four kicks in, no more of this nonsense; we’re gonna get full on sexy
serialized soap storytelling and I like
it!

To provide a little context and
remind people of how I am watching these eps, I should reiterate that I do not just watch one episode, take my
notes, and then immediately write an essay on it.Rather, when My Beloved Grammy and I get
together, we watch an entire disk of episodes, which usually works out to about
five.In the case of our most recent
visit, we watched the final four episodes of season two, spanning this episode,
Man of the Hour, through the season
finale, Squeezeplay.Because of that, it is sometimes difficult to
remember all the small details of the episodes, so forgive me, but also, it
often slightly colors my view of an episode.

What do I mean by that?Well, I thought Moments of Truthwas a pretty lousy episode, and I think this is a pretty lousy episode, so you
might think we’re on a bad roll of KL eps,
but really we’re not, because I already know for certain that things pick up
tremendously for the last three episodes of the season, and that makes it a
little easier to forgive the writers, directors, and actors having a bad day
and giving us a substandard episode because I know that they will immediately
fix these problems and give us three great episodes of television in a row,
boom boom boom.So anyway, read on to
find out everything wrong with Man of the
Hour.

Aside from a B-storyline that I
had completely forgotten and that does, in fact, relate to future upcoming
episodes and story arcs, Man of the Hour is
completely self-contained and very disposable.As a completist, I could never skip an episode of KL, no matter what, but to a first-time viewer, if I wanted them to
not see the crummy episodes and form a bad opinion of the series early on, this
is one I’d definitely say to skip over (sorta like with season one of The X Files; if you’re trying to rope in
a new viewer it’s probably best that they not
see Space or Fire or Roland).

Man of the Hour is anti-marijuana propaganda straight out of Reefer Madnessor something.Now, I almost never use the term “dated” because I hate that term and I hate the
way people throw that word around as a way to be dismissive about older works
of art.Honestly, movies and TV are
indicative of the time in which they were made and that’s what makes it so special; that’s the beauty of art.Nothing annoys me more than when I’m watching
some movie from the 1970s with someone and they’re like, “Oh, this is so dated
cuz nobody has cell phones!”Yeah, NO
SHIT, you stupid faggot*, because cell phones DIDN’T EXIST YET; GET THE FUCK
OVER IT!But anyway, I’m gonna do it
now, so sue me; I’m gonna call this episode “dated.”

The basic plot of this episode
(which would be right at home in a 7th Heavenepisode) is that a joint mysteriously makes its way into the
Fairgate house. See, even though we all
know how straight-laced (translation: Boring) Eric Fairgate is, one of his more
rebellious friends hands him three joints (which are all yellow and look like
someone pissed on them, by the way) and is like “Keep these safe for later!”Well, of course Karen finds the joints and
the whole house goes into turmoil.Then,
in a hysterical scene that has to be seen to be believed, Ginger’s boring and
forgettable sister goes out running into the ocean and almost drowns.Eric saves her and then she’s in a coma for
the rest of the episode (Spoiler Alert that will surprise nobody: She wakes up
at the end).Anyway, the whole time
she’s in a coma we get a lot of Sid and Karen arguing about what happened and
whether mary jane is evil or not, yada yada yada.

The reason I say “Dated” is
because clearly nobody gives a shit about pot anymore.Perhaps I’m wrong, and please write to me if
I am, but as a person who lives in Washington, where we’ve had legal weed for a
few years now, yeah, nobody gives a shit.Now, to be clear, I am not some stoner who sits at home smoking pot all
day, and as of this writing I haven’t had any
weed in quite a long time, but I do enjoy it and I have enjoyed it in the
past and I’m sure I will enjoy it occasionally in the future.Now that it’s legal, I think people are
accepting that it’s pretty much the same as booze (I would argue it’s better than booze, by the way), in that
you can have the occasional J and it’s cool, but nobody should become that sad
“I smoke weed all day every day and I’m on food stamps and live in my mother’s
basement” person.I only present this
long and annoying and opinionated rant to demonstrate why this episode just
comes off as silly nowadays.The
reaction that is displayed when the J is found in Eric’s pocket (mostly from
Sid; Karen is more mellow; we’ll discuss it) is almost like they found black
tar heroin in his pocket, or perhaps opened the door to his bedroom and found a
bunch of raped, dead, mutilated bodies.It’s just so over-the-top and, yes, that’s indicative of a 1981
attitude, but it also makes for some hilarious viewing
nowadays.

Anyway, this episode sucks and
is one of my least favorites of the series, so let’s just talk about itbit and then move on to some really really
good episodes, okay?Because trust me,
things pick up tremendously in the next three episodes that conclude the
season; this is just a bad stop off where nothing is going right.We even pretty much start with the same way
an episode of my guilty pleasure series 7th Heaven starts.There is an early 7th Heavencomedy classic in
which a friend of Matt’s gives him a J to hold and the J makes its way into the
Camden house, opening Pandora’s Box and almost destroying the entire
family.Well, pretty much right near the
start of this KL episode, goodie two
shoes Fairgate son Eric is handed not one but three Js by some friend of his.“Hold onto these until the wild 1981 party we’re having tonight!” the
friend says.“It’ll be so awesome!Eric Stoltz is gonna be there!He’s gonna go on to be an absolute
nobody!Isn’t that exciting?”Eric is hesitant but agrees to hold onto the
Js until that night.

But wait, we’ve got a special
guest character visiting the cul-de-sac this week in the form of Ginger’s
boring and forgettable sister, um, what the hell is her name?Oh, her name is Cindi.For some reason, in my notes I constantly
scribbled “Jill” and I have no idea why, I guess maybe because she’s such a
non-character.I also have to ask, have
we seen this character before?I’m
flashing back to an early season one episode where either Ginger’s sister or
cousin or someone came to town to visit and Eric went out on a date with her.Anyone remember this at all? No?Okay, moving on.Cindi is played by the forgettable Susan McClung, who’s last IMDb credit is an episode of T.J. Hookerfrom 1982 (at least she went out on a high note).Anyway, there’s nothing interesting or
relevant about this character; she is merely a vessel to get the plot kicked
into motion.

The party we end up seeing is
obviously ridiculous.I know I’ve said
this nine million times before, but I can’t wait
for Lisa Hartman to get her ass onto the show and start singing some real songs, some covers of songs we
know, have heard before, and probably cost a little bit of money to
secure.We are once again assaulted with
some awful public domain…..something…..playing at this party.As I mentioned, Eric Stoltz is there (I turned
to My Beloved Grammy at this point and said, “There’s Eric Stoltz,” to which she replied
“Who?” to which I replied, “Exactly”).I
actually would like to propose a theory here that Eric Stoltz is playing the
same character here that he would play one year later in Fast Times.Think about it,
he’s got the same style hair, he looks exactly the same, and he’s playing a
loser stoner, plus that movie was also set in California.If only Anthony Edwards and Sean Penn were
here to keep him company, my theory would be secure, but from now on I am going
to assume that KL and Fast Timesexist in the same universe
like Cheersand Wingsor whatever.Anyway,
this scene culminates with Jill (sorry, I meant Cindi) about to take a nice big
toke off the J, and it’s at that point we go to commercial.I guess this is still 1981 and I’m not sure
if you could actually show a J being smoked on television yet(I know that in 1993 when Roseanne and Dan
smoked some pot together, we also didn’t get to see the weed being smoked, so who knows how these rules work).

We have an interim scene where
our beloved characters of the cul-de-sac are having a nice cocktail together (I
do wonder if the writers are making some point about how the adult characters
are enjoying their perfectly legal recreational drug at the same time the weed
shenanigans are going on a few miles away).This is the scene where Karen discovers the J in Eric’s pocket and oh
boy, does that music ever pound in
this scene.It sounds straight out of a
horror movie, really, way
over-the-top.

When we return to the party,
things are getting freaky.Stoltz
delivers some line about how he “can seeeeeeee
the music, man,” and then Cindi starts freaking out and going on and on
about how it’s too hot.At this point,
we find out that somebody (I think Stoltz) laced the weed with PCP.Uh oh.Jill/Cindi goes running off towards the ocean and Eric chases after her
to stop her.We’ve got a 48 minute episode
here and I’d say about 47 minutes are devoted to characters running after each
other on the beach.Seriously, this part
goes on forever, because Eric starts
chasing Cindi, then Sid and Karen arrive and start chasing them along the
beach.The whole time, the music keeps
thumping and pounding (and this is probably one of the worst scored episodes of the series, I’d
say).It really starts to become comedic
how long this scene goes on.Finally,
after a couple of hours and a lot of
corny music, Eric heroically (?) pulls Cindi out of the ocean, but now she’s
slipped into a coma!

We jump to the hospital.A black doctor comes walking out to tell us
of Cindi’s condition and I said to myself, “Wait a minute, isn’t that the black
doctor from Omen II?”Well, I turn my phone off and put it away
every time I’m enjoying any type of film or television show; I don’t believe in
distracting myself when I should be focusing on the art in front of me.So I had to wait a little while, but I went
home and looked it up, and yes, I was absolutely right.Oh wait, did I say absolutely right?Sorry, I meant absolutely wrong.Apparently I did the white person thing where
I confused one black person for another, but I wasn’t all that far off.If anyone recalls Omen II (or, to use its full title, Damien: Omen II), you’ll recall a horrifying gross out scene where
a black doctor gets cut in half by some crazy elevator type wires (truly the
scariest scene in that movie).However,
this guy also gets violently killed
in a 1970’s horror movie, namely Brian De Palma’s celebrated Sisters.His name is Lisle Wilson and he was violently stabbed to death by Margot Kidder about thirty minutes into that film.So there you go, I wasn’t too far
off.

Lisle Wilson informs everyone
that Cindi has slipped into a Plot Contrivance Coma.He tells them not to worry, as she will
surely come out of it in the last five minutes of the episode, but until she
does so, everyone needs to freak out and start talking about ethics and
morality and right versus wrong.Everyone goes straight home to do so, starting with Sid and Karen, who
enjoy a healthy debate about the evils of marijuana and whether Eric is a hero
or not.Karen takes an actually fairly
progressive and modern view to the whole thing.I’m definitely on Team Karen right here, as she points out that they all enjoy alcohol together (aside from Gary, of course) but they all know
how to practice moderation and responsibility, and that she feels weed (or
“Grass,” as they call it here) is pretty much the same thing.Sid, however, goes into P.S.A.mode here and starts to
list statistics about how it causes memory loss and Bob Loblaw.Now, you all know I love Sid, I’m definitely
pro-Sid, Sid Fairgate is surely a highlight of the first 33 episodes of KL and I am deeply saddened to know he will be leaving the series in just a
few short episodes, but I have to say that in this episode he is really
annoying me and acting like a total square.I blame this not on the
character of Sid but on the bad writing that is turning Sid into a plot device
used to spout off about the evils of weed.

Sid nearly disowns Eric in this
episode.He gives him the silent
treatment the entire time Cindi is in her coma, and when Karen gives an awesome
speech (it actually is awesome; I’m
not being sarcastic right here; Michele gives a really powerful performance in
this little scene where she pleads with Sid) about how he needs to be more
forgiving and talk to Eric and release some of his guilt, Sid just says, “No,”
and it’s actually a rather shockingly cold moment for Saint Sid.

Probably the piece-de-resistance
of this episode comes in a really bizarre scene in which Ginger’s corny mom
(who I think we only see in this episode and this episode alone) stops by the
Fairgate house to take a big piss in Eric’s face.Clearly the woman (played by an actress named
Cynthia Harris who is apparently best known for the series Mad About You) is suffering from shock because she sorta wonders
around the Fairgate living room like a zombie, and she makes sure to use the
title of the episode a lot.She goes on and on about how if Cindi lives
and comes out of her coma, Eric will be “the man of the hour,” but if she dies,
he will still be “the man of the hour,” but for very different reasons.My Beloved Grammy spoke up here to say, “Oh
jeez, what a bitch,” and at first I was like, “No, I don’t think so; she’s just
in shock; she’s not herself,” but then Ginger’s mom goes to the door and looks
at Eric and says, “It should have been you!”At that point, I turned to My Beloved Grammy and said, “Never mind, you
were right.”

Let’s just cut to the damn
chase.While there’s about five minutes
left in the episode, Cindi wakes up from her coma.Nobody is surprised; we all saw this for the
one-episode-story-arc that it was, and nobody cares.Nobody cared in 1981 and nobody cares
today.But the real cherry on top of
this shit sundae comes in the very last scene, a real “We all learned a
valuable lesson” happy ending that makes sure to put a nice and tidy bow on
everything.This is straight out of not
only 7th Heavenbut also The Brady Bunch.I almost expected Robert Reed to walk in and
start giving a heartwarming speech.Basically
everyone sits around and says, “Well, what happened was scary, but now we
learned why drugs are bad!”To cap it
off, Sid finally opens his arms up and gives Eric A Loving Embrace, and that’s
how we freeze frame and end the episode, at which point I’m reaching for my
handy little barf bag.

Okay, so clearly the A-storyline
of this episode sucks, but one thing I haven’t discussed yet that I did find
significant and interesting is the B-storyline.Now, I had totally and completely forgotten all about this.In my memory, Man of the Hour was completely
self-contained, as self-contained as Land of the Free, an episode you could absolutely skip and not miss a beat.Turns out I was a little bit wrong on that
count, and let me explain why.Remember
a few episodes back with A State of Mindand
how we met Jeff Cunningham and saw how he disapproved of Abby’s lifestyle?Well, he’s back in this episode, leading us
closer and closer to a storyline that will end the second season and begin the
third season, namely that of him kidnapping Brian and Olivia.

I didn’t remember this at all,
but in this episode he takes the two kids for the weekend and then
disappears.Abby becomes worried because
she can’t reach him by phone and starts to think he may have taken them.I found myself thinking, “Oh, is this the one
where he kidnaps them?”No, it’s not,
because he returns them at the end of the episode and says, “Why do I have to
tell you where I’m taking them?”However, there is a significant scene where Richard and Laura are
working on their house and Abby stops by for some legal advice from Richard,
inquiring about what she should do if Jeff does steal them.Clearly the writers had this storyline all
revved up and ready to go and were getting it accelerated here in Man of the Hour.So there you go, thanks to the B-storyline, Man of the Hour officially can not be skipped, damn it; it does
have some stories that pay off later on in the series.

In any case, this is definitely
a bottom dweller episode.It’s not quite
as bad as Land of the Freebut it’s
certainly in the same ballpark.I might
even prefer Land of the Free because
it has more camp value.This one’s not
nearly as boring as Kristin, so I
guess it’s better than that one.But
it’s gonna reside in the bottom ten of the series when all is said and done,
maybe even the bottom five, I guess we’ll see when we get there.It’s just a bad, boring,
not-even-campy-enough-to-be-funny episode, and the “moral debate” storyline
about weed (I’m sorry, I meant grass)
just makes you roll your eyes nowadays.However, it’s not a big deal; we’re still early in the series, the
writers and producers and directors are still finding their groove, and the
next three episodes should go along just swimmingly, so why complain too much
about one bad apple when you have such a delicious and humongous barrel, right?

Let’s move on to the return of
The Other Paul Rudd in an episode that I had completely forgotten existed until
I rewatched it with My Beloved Grammy, More Than Friends.*Please do not write into me with angry E-mails about my use of the word 'faggot.' I am as gay as they come, I like having sex with men, and I also like using the word 'faggot' cuz I think words only have the power to hurt if we allow them that power by keeping them FORBIDDEN and acting like the world will end if we say them.

2 comments:

As always, I agree with your analysis, and think this is a bottom 5 Knots episode. On the other hand, we don't get too many Eric-centric episodes, and his character has always fascinated me. Yes, he was boring, but (to me) his character most represented the cul-de-sac. As the episodes got bigger, he stayed grounded and the same all the way through the end of the 80's when he married Linda. He kept a little of Sid around even after Don Murray left the show. So I am glad he got an episode...it was too bad it had to be this laughable anti-drug cliche of an after-school special.

And yes, Jill was the other Ginger sister that played basketball with Eric in the driveway. Here is what we know about that family...the mother is a bitch, and she gave birth to three boring daughters that together have the personality of one healthy person. :)

"Lisle Wilson informs everyone that Cindi has slipped into a Plot Contrivance Coma. He tells them not to worry, as she will surely come out of it in the last five minutes of the episode, but until she does so, everyone needs to freak out and start talking about ethics and morality and right versus wrong." You topped yourself with that one.

About Me

I live in Seattle, Washington and am a recent college graduate who is currently stuck in a retail hole, but working to get out of it. My interests lie in reading, writing, editing, and proofreading. I love movies and television and I obviously have a very special love for KNOTS LANDING, because I have created an entire blog devoted to it. Feel free to comment on my blog or leave me an E-Mail anytime you want and I promise to get back to you.